Special Service and Features
PM Shri Narendra Modi’s Government provided employment opportunities to 8 lakh artisans through Hunar Haat: Union Minister Shri Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi
Shri Naqvi visits Hunar Haat in Puducherry on concluding day, says 50% beneficiaries are women
Union Minister for Minority Affairs & Deputy Leader, Rajya Sabha, Shri Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi today said ‘Hunar Haat’ is an ‘Effective Employment, Empowerment Exchange’ of the vibrant legacy of artisans and craftsmen.
Addressing mediapersons on the concluding day of the 36th Hunar Haat at Old Port Ground, Puducherry, Shri Naqvi said Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi Ji’s Government has provided employment opportunities to about 8 lakh artisans and craftsmen through the Hunar Haat during the last 7 years. These beneficiaries include more than 50 per cent women artisans.
Shri Naqvi said Hunar Haat is playing a pivotal role in giving world-wide recognition to India’s centuries’ old legacy of art and craft with the commitment to “Swadeshi se Swavlamban”.
Shri Naqvi said the Hunar Haat in Puducherry has been immensely successful as a large number of people from Puducherry and nearby areas visited and purchased indigenous products worth crore of rupees. Artisans and craftsmen have also received online orders on large scale. This has tremendously encouraged the artisans who came here from every corner of the country.
The Hunar Haat at Puducherry was inaugurated by Puducherry Chief Minister Shri N. Rangasamy and Union Minister of State for Information and Broadcasting; Fisheries, Animal Husbandry and Dairying Dr. L. Murugan on 12 February.
Telangana Governor and Puducherry Lt. Governor Dr. Tamilisai Soundararajan visited Hunar Haat on the concluding day and encouraged the artisans and craftsmen.
Shri Naqvi said exquisite and elegant indigenous handmade products of more than 600 artisans and craftsmen from more than 30 States and UTs including Assam, Andhra Pradesh, Bihar, Gujarat, Ladakh, Jammu-Kashmir, Punjab, Karnataka, Madhya Pradesh, Uttar Pradesh, Rajasthan, Jharkhand, Nagaland, Meghalaya, Delhi, Maharashtra, Uttarakhand, West Bengal, Manipur, Goa, Puducherry, Chhattisgarh, Telangana, Chandigarh, Haryana were available in the Hunar Haat at Puducherry.
Shri Naqvi said that besides traditional dishes from different regions of the country available at “Bawarchikhana”, the visitors also enjoyed Vishwakarma Vatika, traditional Circus and different cultural and musical programmes of renowned artists of the country at Puducherry Hunar Haat.
Renowned artistes of the country such as Kavitha Krishnamurthy, Reet Mishra, Rani Indrani, Ankita Pathak, Hamsika Iyer, Upasana Singh, Vipin Aneja, Priya Mallik, Vishnupriya, Mahalaxmi Iyer, Shri Ram Iyer, Velmurugan enthralled the audience with their musical and cultural programmes in Hunar Haat at Puducherry.
Shri Naqvi said that as a part of “Azadi Ka Amrit Mahotsav”, the Hunar Haat at Puducherry also depicted beautifully, the history and role played by great freedom fighters of the country.
Shri Naqvi said that Hunar Haat is a “Perfect Platform of Protection, Preservation, Promotion” of Indian legacy of art and craft. Hunar Haat has proved to be a “powerful perfect platform” of “3Vs”- “Vishwakarma Virasat Ka Vikas”. The Modi Government has not only protected the country’s legacy of art and craftsmanship, it has also provided new energy, market and opportunities to indigenous products.
Shri Naqvi said that the next Hunar Haat will be organised in Hyderabad from 25 February, 2022. Hunar Haats will also be organised in New Delhi, Mysuru, Guwahati, Pune, Ahmedabad, Bhopal, Patna, Mumbai, Jammu, Chennai, Chandigarh, Agra, Prayagraj, Goa, Jaipur, Bengaluru, Kota, Sikkim, Srinagar, Leh, Shillong, Ranchi, Agartala and other places in the coming days.